Timothy Jonathon Ross (aka Rosso) is an Australian comedian, radio host and television presenter. He is best known for performing stand-up comedy and radio works as part of the comedy duo Merrick and Rosso with Merrick Watts.Ross began his career in comedy and first came together with Merrick Watts when they teamed up for a one off comedy show in 1996. They had many stand up shows and comedy tours across Australia and appeared at many comedy festivals. They also published the comedy books "Merrick and Rosso, The Book" and "Merrick and Rosso, The Book Volume 2". Tim Ross fronts comedy band Black Rose, who opened the V festival in Melbourne and Sydney in 2009.

Talking on the Mix106.5 Rosso & Claire breakfast show as part of the Say No To Bullying initiative, Rosso outlined his shockingly frank and harsh story.

"That stage in my life is probably the most miserable I’ve ever been. "

"Somehow I felt it was my fault,” Rosso admitted as he revealed details of abuse he received in Year 7 that included name calling, being dragged into toilet blocks and having things thrown at him. “I dreaded going to bed at night because I knew I was closer to having to get up to go to school.”

The bullying reached a point where Rosso felt compelled to leave his school in the middle of the day, walking approximately 20 kilometres home unaccompanied because “I couldn’t deal with it anymore.”

“I never went back to the school again,” he said. “I changed schools.”

Though his parents attempted to resolve matters through the school, bringing all the parties together, and later Rosso saw a child psychologist, he was confronted by the implication throughout every step of the process “that I was doing something wrong, that was causing me to be bullied.”

While the stereotype of a comedian learning to be funny as a defence mechanism proved far too true in this instance, unusually Rosso has since become friends with some of the bullies who terrorised him at the time. He is sanguine about their role. “Sometimes kids aren’t very nice,” he commented “I don’t think they were particularly aware of it.”

Rosso doesn’t downplay the seriousness of the issue however, nor its impact upon him, revealing “that stage in my life is probably the most miserable I’ve ever been.”